Charlie Furry

HI, I’m Natasha,
My husband and best friend Charlie Furry an Observational Astronomer was diagnosed on April 3RD  2019 with Glioblastomas. Charlie has 2 Stage 4 Cancer Brain Tumors claiming his eyesight and some cognitive skills as well!
Here is Charlie’s story:
In October 2004 I retired from a great ATE company where I helped develop and test software. Now I was free to follow a dream I have had since grade school – Astronomy! We moved from California to Arizona, bought a home, set up our telescopes and started looking around. We met a great man, Bill Kelley, who taught us how to make our own mirrors for telescopes.
In April of 2008 a great opportunity came my way and I started working for a startup company called Evening Sky Tours out of Sedona, AZ (now called Sedona Star Gazing) soon my wife, Natasha and I were doing “Tours of the Universe” together and making great money for doing something that we loved. We also volunteered at some of our National Parks (Grand Canyon, Cedar Breaks, Bryce, Etc.) doing astronomy nights for tourists.
Even though we moved to several different locations we always kept in touch with and did tours for our Sedona Star Gazing Company usually during the Spring Breaks and Summer Vacation time.
In August of 2018 our Astronomy Boss called and asked if we might be interested in a possibility he was looking at located in Cost Rica, a possible astronomy gig. We looked at each other and said YES!  That set the ball rolling for our move back from Florida to Arizona. The Boss asked if we could work the Sedona Star Gazing tours in Sedona from October 1 through end of December. (the hoped for time of departure for the Costa Rica gig).
We sold or gave away ALL of our furniture and most everything else excepting our telescopes because our Boss said that everything would be furnished in Costa Rica, so just bring your clothes. That’s what we did.
In December, after closer investigations our Boss decided that this gig was not really a viable one for his company and we were not going to be leaving.
So, now we are in Arizona with absolutely no possessions. What remained of our household goods were located in 2 storage units in Naples, Florida and we didn’t really have the means to go get them nor a place to put them.
Luckily, we were blessed to have friends in Cottonwood, AZ who opened their home to us for several months. Actually, we still have things stored there! Thank you Al & Ina! Moving our meager stuff from Florida to Arizona was just not feasible at this time. 
We moved to Phoenix because the job opportunities there were better than in Cottonwood.
WE found a relatively inexpensive unfurnished apartment and bought a bed and went to Thrift Shops,  Goodwill and Dumpster diving at our apartment complex because there were many things thrown away that were really great!
In January I found us both positions at H&R Block as Client Service Professionals and we worked all kinds of hours through the tax season which ended April 17th. During my working there, I met the head Tech guy since I was basically a Software and hardware tech guy he offered me a great position to start when tax  season ended.
Well, here is where everything goes down the drain – so to speak!